Hi Everyone,

Beginning today, we are offering a 20% discount on ALL album design orders (minimum 30 pages)! When submitting your design order, use the discount code:   2011albumexposure

• OFFER EXPIRES OCTOBER 9, 2011 at MIDNIGHT.

That being said, today we’re hosting a guest blog from our friends at AlbumExposure.  They’ve got some good insight about the important role presentation plays in your business.

It’s Photography, not Real Estate
By Gary Sikes

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In real estate, it’s all about those three famous words: location, location, location!

But in the photography world, I’d suggest it’s all about presentation, presentation, presentation!!

Seems that many professional photographers these days are ‘destination’ photographers and the industry is filled with talented individuals who are mobile, agile, and able to leverage their surroundings for great results. As a result, location just isn’t what it used to be for your business to thrive.

However, this creates a significant challenge for you to develop two different sets of processes and procedures. One for physical interaction with clients and another for destination clients who require more digital contact. This requires a tremendous amount of preparation and attention to detail if you want to maximize your abilities to capture new clients, create a winning experience, and foster a referral network.

In order to make this a little easier, let me suggest that you concentrate on presentation. And I’m not just talking about presentation of images, rather presentation at each marker in the road. Have you ever noticed the markers on the side of an old county road? Often a mile marker, but always a designation of a key point in a distance spanning two locations. The markers identify the progression to your destination and offer tangible signs for what can be expected next. In a similar way, the method by which you present your brand at markers along the way will give your clients and potential clients an indication of what is to come. You’re both building trust and creating expectations at the same time. So, don’t get overwhelmed by the idea of systems and processes up front, rather let those come naturally from the ways you decide to present yourself and focus more on defining those presentation ‘markers’, if you will. This will shape the positioning of your brand.

Consider each step from introduction (first look on your website, an email, or phone call) through to the final goal (happy customer with completed project). Make sure to define the key markers, as your clients will be looking at these clues to determine what their experience will be like. Similarly, the ways you successfully provide to the level that you present at each marker, will dictate the amount of happy clients you have and how easily they desire to sing your praises as fans. So, be mindful of each step in the process, define how you want to be perceived, then present yourself honestly and with integrity at the markers along the road.

Share some key ways you or your staff present to clients or prospects below and let’s keep the discussion rolling.

[written by Gary Sikes of AlbumExposure]

Feel free to check out the blog Album Exposure has posted about SDE today for ideas… (blog.albumexposure.com)
This week, Album Exposure is offering $30 off their yearly subscription this week: “AESDEWT103“!